Archive for September, 2013|Monthly archive page

Two weeks of sun and snorkelling in Greece, but now it’s back to work again. There were a couple of features to write up after the busy late August, early September period so that was a focus; then on Thursday it was off to a shoot in West London , near Shepherd’s Bush.

Having got close to my destination I was aware that there was a bizarre sort of colour scheming going on, the houses in the street were painted in chocolate box pastel shades….

Pastel coloured paint work

and the foliage in the garden seemed to echo the colours….

in Kensington and Chelsea do they dye their plants to match their houses?

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The week started with a shoot at the home of French gallery owner Loic Le Gaillard with photographer Jefferson Smith. Le Gaillard is one of the two founders of the uber trendy Carpenters Workshop Galleries, which has two branches in London and one in Paris . His home is interesting too, being on the upper levels of a converted synagogue and given Le Gaillard’s day job it wasn’t surprising to find the place full of amazing art furniture and sculptures.

On Tuesday it was off to Gatwick for an Easyjet flight to Pisa, this time with photographer Ben Anders. We arrived in the early afternoon and were driven to Florence to the hill top home of fashion designer Roberto Cavalli. We had an hour or so to recce the place and sort out where we would shoot the portraits of Cavalli the next day, then back to Florence and our hotel.

The Rialto Bridge from outside our hotel in Florence

The following morning we were up bright and early and ready to go. That was until we found that a helpful hotel porter had put all Ben’s photographic equipment into a taxi, not the Cavalli limo that had been sent to pick us up. There was a tense half an hour or so while the hotel management tracked down the taxi and the equipment was returned. For a while it looked as though I might have to take all the images on my mobile phone, and given the quality of the pictures I mange to snap for this blog, I don’t think it would have been a good idea.

Back at the Cavalli house we waited for the great man to arrive. Dealing with the light was tricky because the sun was so strong and direct, but finally Ben got the portraits and we could concentrate on getting the house shots. Mr Cavalli’s parrot Riva proved to be an excellent model and appears in several room shots

Cavalli’s parrot

A car picked us up a 6pm and it was back to the airport and time for a celebratory Aperol before boarding the flight to Gatwick. I got home at around 1am, covered in mosquito bites so tired and scratchy.

Cheers Ben, to a long day and a job well done

Next morning up bright and early for the first meeting at Jacqui Small’s for the new book…..the topic is back to my roots in kitchens, this is my fifth on the subject, but a slightly different angle! More to follow

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Hello I am Vinny Lee, writer and stylist. I have been the Interiors Editor of The Times Magazine for 17 years and write most weekends on lifestyle and peoples living spaces. For most features I recce the location, set up the shoot, liaise with the photographer, art direct the shoot ... Continue reading →